How-To: Starfish Birdcage Veil

As soon as Brit knew she was getting married on the beach, she knew that she wanted starfish as a part of the decor. She also loves the birdcage veil and I was happy to help her make one using the same technique I had used to make my own veil for my and Geoff’s wedding. Before you start sewing pull two long “tails” of thread from the needle and bobbin of your machine.Set you machine to the longest stitch possible. Begin sewing along one of the raw (short) edge. Do not back stitch. Make sure you are sewing as one continuous stitch and that the thread does not break.On the back end, you may notice the netting will start to scrunch up. This is completely ok! In fact, it will help you gather later on.Keep sewing along one of the long edges, then the other raw edge. When you get the the end, do not backstitch. Also leave long tails of thread on this side too.On one end of the fabric, gently pull one of the “tails” while holding on to the netting. This should gather the fabric. Be careful not to break the thread! Keep gathering until everything is tight.Once the veil is fully gathered, tie the two sets of tail into a double knot to keep it from coming undone. Clip the ends of the threads.Before finishing up, we placed the veil on Brit and made sure everything was laying as we liked it to. We had to tuck up a bit of netting on one side.Take the scrunched up part of the veil and place it under your needle. Sew back and forth over this area several times to create a flat space. Here you can seen the “flat part”.Put a good sized glob of hot glue in this spot and attach your starfish! On the backside, glue down the tops of two alligator clips. (You should be able to buy these little clips at craft stores or on Etsy.)Cut a small piece of felt in a long oval shape like so.Clip the felt into the two alligator clips. Lift up the edge of the felt and apply a small dab of glue. Repeat on the other side. Your beautiful veil is complete!